Homemade by Jill – M&J Challenge 2

Hello, M&J Trimming friends! I’m Jill from Homemade by Jill, and I am thrilled to participate in this challenge. M&J Trimming was my very favorite craft supply store during my four years in New York City. While it is still fun to browse the website, there is nothing like stepping into the actual store – not to be missed on a trip to NYC, in my opinion!

When I opened my mystery box of supplies, I was totally stumped by the materials. It was beautiful but daunting. I must have stared at that box everyday for over two weeks before getting to work. I finally embraced the neon-ness (so hot this season!) and things quickly came together from there.

For my first project, I made a pair of bracelets using the braided leather cording.

Prepare the ribbon. Fold the ends twice and sew to secure. One end should be large enough to add a button hole (the size is determined by the size of the button you use) and the other end is folded under just to hide the cut edge of the ribbon. The total length of my prepared ribbon was about 9.5 inches.

Hot glue the braid to the ribbon, starting just below the button hole, as shown.

Wrap the cut ends of the braid with an additional length of grosgrain ribbon, hot gluing to secure.

Sew a button on the opposite end of the button hole.

All-Out Neon Button Bracelet instructions:

Prepare the grosgrain ribbon, same as above: Fold the ends twice and sew to secure. One end should be large enough to add a button hole (the size is determined by the size of the button you use) and the other end is folded under just to hide the cut edge of the ribbon. The total length of my prepared ribbon was about 9.5 inches. I added some decorative top-stitching to the edges of this ribbon.

Hot glue the leather cording side by side along the middle of the grosgrain ribbon, starting just below the button hole loop, as pictured.

Wrap the cut ends with additional lengths of grosgrain ribbon and secure with hot glue.

Sew a button on the opposite end of the button hole.

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For my second project, I made Rosette Hair Clips for my baby, Ruby. The hand-dyed silk ribbon creates a bold, beautiful flower, and the texture of the grosgrain ribbon helps keep the clip in her baby-fine hair.

Starting from the inside, hot glue grosgrain ribbon to an alligator clip. Glue the ribbon, wrapping tightly around both the inside and outside of the clip, taking care to seal the ribbon to the edges.

Using the Hand-Dyed ribbon, fold over twice to a 1/4 width and begin rolling the rosette. Continue twisting and rolling the ribbon, securing with hot glue about every other twist.

When you’ve reached the desired rosette size, secure the tail of the ribbon to the bottom of the rosette with hot glue.

Glue the rosette to the ribbon-covered hair clip.

Glue a rhinestone to the center of the rosette using a dab of super glue.

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For my last project, I decided to make a toddler-sized butterfly costume. It was actually my husband’s idea, which surprised me because he usually doesn’t get involved in the crafty stuff.

I brought the finished wings to my playgroup, and they were very popular with the toddler set – both boys and girls. I love the toddler years, because there is still no boy stuff vs. girl stuff … it’s all fun!

Materials used:

RIT Dye in Teal

RIT Dye in Yellow

Rhinestone Starter Kit

Grosgrain Ribbon in Teal

Hand Dyed Silk Ribbon in Hot Flash

Mesh Ribbon in Hot Pink

one baby onesie

four wire pants hangers

one pair white ladies nylons

elastic lace

glitter paint

hot glue

super glue

Toddler Butterfly Dress-Up instructions:

Start with four wire pants hangers. Remove the cardboard tube and straighten the sides.

Bend the shoulders of the hanger to create a circle and hook the end loops together. Using pliers, bend the loops closed to secure.

Shape the hangers into upper and lower wings. Upper wings should be round, and the lower wings should be more of an oval shape.

Using pliers, bend the hanger top hooks into flat loops.

Cover the each piece entirely with duct tape. In hindsight, white duct tape would be preferable.

Tape the four wing pieces together using duct tape.

Dye the nylons following the instructions on the RIT package. You may notice in the slideshow that I dyed my nylons after attaching them to the wings – I wouldn’t recommend doing this. My original plan was to spray the dye from a spray bottle so the wings would be spotted, but it just didn’t work. The dye ran, and I had to spray the wings a solid color. So in this case, do as I say, not as I do!

Cover each wing piece with the dyed nylons. I used the feet of the nylons for the top of each wing. For the bottom wings, cut off the remaining leg of each nylon, turn them inside out, tie a knot at one end, and turn them right side out again. Then stretch the tube over the bottom wing portion as you did with the top.

Tie the cut ends of the nylons together across the center of the wing base.

Now comes the fun part – embellish the wings! I wrapped the teal grosgrain ribbon (secured with hot glue) around the center wing base to hide the remainder of the duct tape and hot glued glued a silk rosette to the center (to match the hair clips). The mesh ribbon was cut into shapes and super glued to the wings in a pattern. The rhinestones were also super glued to the wings. I used a silver glitter paint around the wing edges to conceal the darkness of the duct tape beneath the nylons.

Add two loops of stretchy elastic to the back of the wings to wear as a costume. My loops measured about 14 inches each and were hot glued to the wings. The wings fit toddlers ages 1-3.

If you have a baby butterfly, dye a onesie with the teal RIT dye to match their fancy butterfly wings.